The modern Intel Xe kernel graphics driver was designed from the start to be more broadly compatible with non-x86 architectures given their discrete graphics processors being front and center, unlike the legacy i915 kernel graphics driver being very x86 minded. While this allows [1]running Intel Arc Graphics on ARM or RISC-V, there are some other kinks still being ironed out with using Intel graphics in the non-x86 world. One of those limitations currently being worked through is the lack of GPU firmware updating on non-x86 systems.

Patches being worked on by independent Linux developer Simon Richter allow for GPU firmware updates for Intel discrete GPUs connected to non-x86 machines. This Intel dGPU firmware updating for non-x86 hardware means changes to the Intel Management Engine Interface (MEI) driver to allow building on non-x86 kernels and decoupling the ME interfaces from GPU drivers.

In the end though with [2]this patch series it's just carefully reworking a few lines of code for enabling Intel discrete GPU firmware updates to work outside of the x86 world. The code is currently under review for working its way to the mainline kernel.



[1] https://www.phoronix.com/news/Intel-Arc-Graphics-On-ARM

[2] https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/20260107182615.488194-1-Simon.Richter@hogyros.de/